Health
There’s a great book, called Intuitive Eating that outlines a concept I like a lot. I haven’t read the whole book, just the first few chapters, but I got some great ideas from it. Intuitive eating is the practice of paying attention to your body to direct you on what to eat and when to eat. If you listen to your body, your body will tell you exactly what you need to eat, and when you need to eat.
I learned about this idea several years ago, but I’m still struggling to implement it because of my addiction to overeating. I am 41 years old as of this writing, I’ve had kids and my body doesn’t have a biological imperative to grow anymore. I am slowly dying, and right now my body needs less calories than it ever has operate.
What makes intuitive eating difficult for me is that when I eat fatty, delicious foods, my brain gives me a big kick of dopamine, and doing this regularly forms an addictive behavior. So instead of eating only foods that will help me, I eat foods that taste good. Instead of eating food only when I’m hungry, I eat food whenever I feel the need for a kick of dopamine, or can’t resist the temptation anymore. I’ve discussed dopamine and addictions in another chapter, so won’t go into that here.
I feel like it is vitally important to not overeat however, thus my constant struggle with quitting that addiction. I believe that lots of afflictions, including cancers and auto-immune diseases can be the result of consuming too much matter. Too many nutrients, too many calories. Our body doesn’t know how to handle all this, so it grows things like tumors that can end up killing us.
I believe this, not because it is a fact, but because I read about a lot of modern scientific research in every field I can get my hands on, and that seems to be a general trend in things that scientists are learning currently about human physiology. It also fits with my worldview, and it appeals to common sense. I’m sure something like cancer or Crohn’s disease is not caused by just one thing either; the world and our bodies are insanely complex organisms, and there could be dozens or hundreds of factors involved in these diseases. The basic principle of being healthy is eating the right amount of nutritious foods and exercising regularly. If you do this, it will make you feel good, and if you feel good, you’ll be happy, and if you are happy, you will probably live a fulfilling life.
I went through a phase in my life, where I fasted for five days a month. With a few exceptions, I probably did that for about two years. During a five day fast I would have to work, and so I couldn’t alter my lifestyle very much for the fast. I would drink mostly water, and eat nothing except for an occasional piece of fruit or a few nuts.
The first day of the fast usually wasn’t that difficult, but going to bed the first night could be painful with an empty stomach. The second day of the fast was the worst, but by the end of the second day, all hunger pangs are gone and I would start to feel light as a feather. The next three days of my fast would be amazing. When my body didn’t have to spend all of it’s energy digesting food, I didn’t need much sleep, and so I could work long days with no breaks for food, go to sleep late, and wake up early, fully rested. I had tons of energy and felt light on my feet, like I could do anything.
I intentionally stopped doing these fasts because I had trouble with self-control. For the other 25 days a month I wasn’t fasting, I would eat and drink whatever I felt like and so overall, my health didn’t really improve.
What I’m working on now is changing my whole relationship to food and crafting a complete lifestyle change that allows me to eat much less all the time. My main opponent in the struggle is my my own addiction and lack of self-control. The ideas in Intuitive Eating help a lot with crafting this lifestyle. As you practice paying attention to your body, you will notice clearly when you are or are not hungry, and as you get better at playing attention to your body, you’ll start to be able to feel the things that your body needs and doesn’t need.
As young men, your bodies certainly need a lot more calories than my middle-aged-man body does right now. At some point your body will make a shift from its goal of seeking a mate and procreating to beginning to die. With most men it seems to happen between 30 and 40 years old. You’ll notice that you have less energy, that you start to get fat, and that is a lot harder to lose weight, burn fat and build muscle. Right now your bodies are quick and responsive– the better to attract a mate and make some children, and also a great time to start learning about your body and intuitive eating.
Fasting is very difficult to start because our culture and the pleasure-seeking parts of our mind tell us that we need to eat three meals a day. This is not true. Everyone in the world has different nutritional needs, and fasting is perfectly safe and healthy for most people. Humans have evolved to live with scarcity, and I imagine our distant ancestors would go many days without eating in their lives. I believe that not only is fasting safe, our bodies actually function much better when we fast regularly.
Start by doing a 24 hour fast. Choose a day of the week where you don’t have plans to eat with other people, preferably a busy day, and go the entire day without eating anything. Only drink water and juice. From the time you wake up in the morning until the time you go to bed at night, don’t eat anything. You can wake up and eat breakfast the next morning. This kind of fasting has been getting a lot of press recently, and it’s called intermittent fasting. There are numerous documented health benefits with this practice.
The next step would be to extend it to two or three days. Like I said above, I think it’s easier if you choose days where you will be busy doing things. It’s a lot harder for me to fast if I’m at home by myself with not much to do, because that’s when my addiction kicks in and tells me that I need to eat something delicious. If you choose a day when you’re busy, you can distract yourself from the mental challenge and work on paying attention to your body in the moment. You will be uncomfortable for the first couple of days. The worst hunger pangs make you feel like you’re about to throw up, but I’ve only had those occasionally and it’s not really that bad. If you can make it through two days, doing a five day fast is a piece of cake. For me, the last three days are effortless and I’m always a little reluctant to eat my first meal after a fast, because I know that it will slow me down.
I am always pursuing new experiences, because when you do something new, you gain a new perspective on the world. Fasting for a few days gives you a very valuable perspective. While you’re fasting, watch other people eating, and notice how you feel. In the first couple of days of a fast, you may feel jealous, hungry, and irritated. After you get through the first two days though you will start to see how fucked up our relationship to food is. You will watch people eat fatty foods be disgusted. You will vow to never eat junk food again. Your sense of smell will sharpen, and you’ll be able to tell what kind of oil a food was cooked in and be able to take apart the ingredients with your nose. Fasting is like a super power. You will have enormous energy, a super-powered senses, your reflexes quicken, your mind will sharpen, and you don’t need as much sleep.
Some people have a very high metabolism and fasting may not be a healthy option for them. Everyone is different, every body is different, every brain is different, so just because these things work for me doesn’t mean they will work for you. However, both of you guys have my genes and same basic body type, so I’m pretty sure you will have a similar experience to me. Try this now while you’re young and experiment with it so that when you get older and your body starts to slow down, you can use these tools to stay healthy and energetic in middle-age. The most important rule is to pay attention to your body. If this is impossible for you as a 20 year old, it may be much easier when you’re 30. Your body will tell you.
